Lipases

Abstract

Among the hydrolytic enzymes, transformations mediated by lipases have been extensively studied. This chapter begins with a brief description on the three lipases – porcine pancreas lipase, Rhizomucor lipase and Candida rugosa lipase – employed extensively in the transformation work described in this book. This is followed by specificity of lipases and the reactions – both hydrolytic and esterification – catalysed by them with respect to their mechanism. After a brief mention about the advantages of using lipases in organic solvents over chemical reactions, this chapter concludes with a table furnished with literature data on mainly diverse esterification reactions carried out in the a past three decades using lipases in nonaqueous media.